A debris blower and its method of fabrication are disclosed.
Debris blowers have been developed for blowing leaves and other debris from large areas such as golf courses. Generally, a debris blower includes an engine operationally connected to a turbine for creating an air stream which can be directed toward the leaves and debris by a nozzle. Due to the relatively large rotationally speed of the engine and the turbine, it is important that the engine and the turbine be properly aligned on the chassis. Conventionally, such alignment was performed by shimming the housing of the turbine relative to the chassis. Shimming requires extra components and a skilled technician to perform the alignment procedure. Further, servicing the engine, the turbine, and the operational connection therebetween often required the removal of screen guards enclosing the components desired to be serviced. Conventionally, removal and replacement of screen guards was difficult and often required at least two persons.
Further, operators of tow behind debris blowers have a hard time setting the exact angle of the blower nozzle, because it is at the rear of the machine and is hard to see from the operator's position. The operator typically finds an ideal angle to have the nozzle to get the best results of blowing the debris. During operation, operators make a pass with the nozzle pointed downward to the right, get to the end of the pass and then turn around. After turning, the operators want the nozzle to point at the same downward angle but to the left. However, conventional blowers require adjusting the angle until they get it just right. If the operator could preset this angle and automatically go to it, time would be saved trying to set the angle on the fly, as well as a more consistent job of clearing debris would be preformed.
Further, conventional tow behind debris blowers were controlled only by a remote hand held control which was held by the operator sitting on the tow vehicle. If the remote control was ever lost or damaged, the debris blower could not be operated until a replacement unit was ordered and obtained, which often took several days.
As indicated, a typical operation of debris blowers is to make multiple passes and turning around at the end of each pass. During turning, blowing of debris is not needed. As the debris blowers are relatively noisy in operation and more gas is consumed at higher revolutions, operators of conventional debris blowers would throttle down the engine at the end of the first pass and then would throttle up the engine at the beginning of the second pass. However, considerable operator involvement is required to throttle up and throttle down the engine, which is troublesome especially since the operator would be giving attention to the turning operation of the tow vehicle and the tow behind debris blower.
Thus, a need exists for an improved chassis for a debris blower which can be easily fabricated from a few components and which overcomes the deficiencies of conventional debris blowers. Further, a need exists for a manner to preset the angle of the nozzle allowing automatic return to the preset angle when turning is necessary. Additionally, a need exists for a manner to operate the debris blower in the event that the handheld remote was lost or damaged. Furthermore, a need exists for a manner to easily go from a current operating speed down to idle and back again without having to throttle up and down the engine.